Lord Goldsmith: Fraud has been estimated to cost the economy at least £14 billion a year and is an increasing threat to our economy and society. It facilitates other crime such as terrorism.
	In our manifesto the Government said that "We will overhaul laws on fraud and the way that fraud trials are conducted to update them for the 21st century and to make them quicker and effective". Legislation is currently before Parliament to introduce a single offence of fraud; and I announced in June that the Government intended to implement Section 43 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which would allow a limited number of very serious and complex fraud trials to be tried without a jury if both the trial judge and the Lord Chief Justice concur. The order to implement Section 43 will be laid today before both Houses.
	But in addition to these worthwhile changes the Government have decided that our response to fraud must be strengthened further. To facilitate that an interdepartmental review of fraud has been established which will report jointly to me and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, by late spring 2006. The review will consider the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution/punishment of fraud. It will consider the scope for improving the current arrangements with the objective of reducing the amount of fraud and minimising the harm it causes to the economy and wider society. The terms of reference are attached to this Statement. The review team will consult widely with stakeholders in the public and private sectors before delivering its report, and representatives of the Fraud Advisory Panel and Financial Services Authority have agreed to join the steering group, which will be chaired by one of my officials.